How fast do YOU read ?

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

It's not funny!

sowwy! *hangs head in shame*

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

sowwy! *hangs head in shame*

Yeah, right! That way I can't see the big grin on your face.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

Yeah, right! That way I can't see the big grin on your face.

hush now!

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

Originally Posted by TGS

You mean you stop reading whilst you are having sex! Weird.

The glasses get in the way, fall off, or get a bit steamed up, so I'd have to hold the book or reader a fair distance away. Which is just awkward. Maybe I should look at contacts...

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

Sex? At my age, the only action I get is when the prunes kick in.

[astra]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

Yeah, right! That way I can't see the big grin on your face.

I thought the same...

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

I've never timed myself but I'm probably slower than average. The actual speed will vary depending on how interesting the book is, how many distractions I have and how tired I am (the two go hand in hand; I have ADD and the more tired I am, the more easily distracted I am), how much of the book I want to retain (except for water, I have difficulty retaining things), how easy it is for me to comprehend what I'm reading (fatigue will impair comprehension), etc. I often stop to reflect on what I've just read (or sometimes just have a good cry or recover from a good laugh) so that slows me down. And frankly I don't care. I'm not on any kind of reading schedule so I'll take just however long it takes to enjoy the book.

Same hare. Except I'm probably average or above average.

Originally Posted by ShortNCuddlyAm

Now that reminds me of when I used to work in a bookshop - several of us would have a race to see who could finish the newest HP book first. It was always me (I've always read quickly - teachers at school didn't always believe I'd finished a set book when I said I had. As a young child, I think it was because of the excitement of there being so much to read. And the habit stuck. There are downsides though - for example I completely went off Alexander McCall Smith after reading 7 of his books in one day)

I wish I had the time!

Originally Posted by astra

I don't know about one page speed, but generally it takes me 3-4 weeks to read an equivalent of a thick, 900 pages hardback edition book. Unfortunately

Wouldn't that depend on how much actual reading time you had during that time?

If I have the time, and a book that I must finish asap (you know, those books you just can't put away however you promise yourself that you really should do that other thing, such as sleeping), I can read a few books a day. But most often I just don't have a day. I only have 5 minutes here, an hour there. And in bed my eyes close as soon as I put my head on the pillow...

During holidays, I can read a book a day (which is why electronic reading has been my saviour for several years now!)

[astra]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Wouldn't that depend on how much actual reading time you had during that time?

I read approximately 1.5-2 hours per day.

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

During holidays, I can read a book a day (which is why electronic reading has been my saviour for several years now!)

LUcky You!

[Iridal]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

If I have the time, and a book that I must finish asap (you know, those books you just can't put away however you promise yourself that you really should do that other thing, such as sleeping), I can read a few books a day. But most often I just don't have a day. I only have 5 minutes here, an hour there. And in bed my eyes close as soon as I put my head on the pillow...

During holidays, I can read a book a day (which is why electronic reading has been my saviour for several years now!)

I'm the same, holidays are the only reason I miss going to school. Nowadays I read on the train (that is when other commuters aren't snoring/talking really loud on the phone/having an utterly stupid conversation that I just have to listen to or when none of my colleagues are on the same train) and probably also an hour or so at home. I don't read after dinner, because by then I'm pretty much exhausted. I can still read (duh) but I usually don't remember what I've read when I resume reading the next morning.

I don't come across books that I can't put away very often anymore but when I do I can usually finish it in a day and a half. It takes me about a week and a half to read a normal-sized paperback. During weekends I'm usually pretty busy grocery shopping and cleaning, so I get to read even less than on weekdays ...

[Xenophon]

My reading speed (for fiction -- research papers are a whole different story!) peaked in my undergraduate years at around 1600 words per minute, with near-perfect comprehension. Now that I have far less time available to read in, I'm down to about 800 WpM. Put differently, that 300-page novel takes between 2.5 to 3.5 hours to finish (depending on font size, page size, etc.).

I've never understood the folks who claim that "speed readers" don't understand or savor what they read. All the comprehension tests I've ever taken say that I retain much more of what I read than is "typical."

All bets are off, though, when I'm either tired or sick. Both speed and comprehension drop through the floor. When I had the flu a few years ago, I read the same page for nearly an hour! Over, and over, and over, and... When I finally noticed I'd been repeating that page, I gave up and went to sleep instead.

Xenophon

[nyrath]

Back in the early 1960's when I was in grade school, I was among the students who scored high enough (color code purple) on the SRA Reading Kit to be allowed some training with a weird gizmo that I now know was a tachistoscope. I am now a fast reader (about a book and a half a day), and do tend to notice things that flash by quickly.

However, correlation does not imply causation, so I do not know if my tachistoscope training created my speed reading, or if I was just born a fast reader and the tachistoscope did absolutely nothing.

[Falcao]

Maybe not very fast, but I can read for many hours. Even on a LCD screen.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

All bets are off, though, when I'm either tired or sick. Both speed and comprehension drop through the floor. When I had the flu a few years ago, I read the same page for nearly an hour! Over, and over, and over, and... When I finally noticed I'd been repeating that page, I gave up and went to sleep instead.

Been there, done that!

But I agree, speed goes down a blackhole when you're sick or tired. Which is why I can read a book a day if I'm on holiday (even though we're busy during the day itself!), simply because I'm all rested and relaxed.

[Iridal]

Originally Posted by Falcao

Maybe not very fast, but I can read for many hours. Even on a LCD screen.

I envy you ... My work entails reading a lot, especially in the early stages of a research project. Sometimes I spend a couple of weeks doing nothing but reading research reports and journal articles. But I just can't read them on my computer. I go crazy and my eyes glaze over. So I usually end up printing everything out, which is bad for the environment and disastrous for my already crammed cabinets.

[astra]

Originally Posted by Falcao

Maybe not very fast, but I can read for many hours. Even on a LCD screen.

Lucky you!